Increasing US Voting Rate Through Compulsory Voting
American politicians are often proud of their democratic system and pride themselves on being a model of a 'democratic' world. However, American democracy is increasingly losing its appeal to many Americans. One obvious example is the low voter turnout in the U.S. presidential and midterm elections in recent years. The voter turnout rate has not been high, Statistics show that the voting rate of the U.S. presidential election in 2000 was only 50%, and in 2004 it was about 60%. This is considered to be a relatively high presidential election in the United States.
In order to solve this, we must figure out the issue first. Some people say that Americans are only interested in their own domestic affairs and are indifferent to international affairs. This is not true. In the case of the US presidential election, although it is a matter of who is led by the country, the number of American voters who voted is decreasing. What is going on here? As the nation's number one country, American voters' enthusiasm for electing their own president is not as good as one. According to a survey of the number of voters who voted, the United States is only ranked 140th out of 163 countries. Even small countries such as Malta, Uzbekistan, and even Cambodia vote twice as much as voters.
Due to the low voter turnout, adopting to compulsory voting isn’t necessarily a bad option. Former President of the United States, Barak Obama, even voiced his support for compulsory voting in one of his speech. Obama stated, “It would be transformative if everybody voted -- that would counteract money more than anything.” If the United States were to adopt compulsory voting, here are the pros and cons. Firstly, one of the many pros of compulsory voting is due to the system requires everybody who is qualified to cast a ballot, it constrains the voices of radical perspectives that can affect the course of the legislature. That enables the legislature to seek after enactment that is progressively moderate in nature, which benefits the general society more than one political side or the other. By securing against the outrageous, conceivably powerless minorities have more assurances accessible to them too. Secondly, it drastically reduces election costs. All the advertisements that the government casts in hope to attract people to vote can sometimes be costly. If citizens are forced to vote, then this portion of the budget can be saved. Thirdly, There will dependably be individuals who go to the casting a ballot stall to make irregular votes since they need to abstain from paying the punishment for not casting a ballot. Under a compulsory casting a ballot structure, it may not be the case. Numerous voters accomplish more research on applicants and center issues. They participate in discussions and face questionable thoughts that may not work. That eventually results in authoritative choices that assistance more individuals in general.
The scope of contentions supporting compulsory casting a ballot is coordinated by a plenty of reasons why the U.S. should continue casting a ballot willful. One of the biggest argument against compulsory voting is that there may be an increase in the number of uninformed voters. Usually affirmed that ignorant voters are progressively powerless to the impact of cash and spending on TV advertisements. A short commercial is probably going to impact an ignorant voter than one who as of now has solid perspectives. This empowers the utilization of shocking and deceiving promoting and may negatively affect battling strategies. While legislators never again need to attempt to persuade residents to go out and vote, despite everything they have to discover approaches to augment their vote among less educated voters. Secondly, Since clueless voters are all the more effectively convinced, a few government officials may concentrate on negligible voters and overlook their principal base of help. Regardless of whether obligatory casting a ballot prompts less polarization, it may not result in better approach results on the grounds that entangled and nuanced enactment might be seen adversely by swing voters. Third of all, an extra worry under a necessary framework is that individuals who are clueless (or basically couldn't care less about the result of a decision) may finish up casting a ballot arbitrarily. The effect of random cast a ballot winds up being especially negative since it neglects to increment urban commitment and may skew the final results.
In general, the voting rate in the US mid-term elections is generally only about 40%. As far as this year's midterm elections are concerned, many people expect a higher voter turnout rate because of the general expectations of Congress's “change of ownership”. However, whether Republican voters will work hard in the face of disappointment with the Republican Party and whether the US middle-class voters will fully participate will still be difficult to judge. In order to increase the enthusiasm of American voters, the US electoral agencies have taken a number of measures in recent years, simplifying the voting process to facilitate the participation of voters, but it seems to have little effect.
